The Birds, the Bees and Electromagnetic Pollution, by Dr. Andrew Goldsworthy, May 2009

The
cryptochromes are a group of pigments found in virtually all animals, plants
and many bacteria. They consist of a
flavin (a derivative of vitamin B2­) folic acid and protein. Like all pigments, they get
their colour by absorbing light at specific wavelengths. The cryptochromes
absorb blue-green and ultra-violet light and use its energy to drive photochemical reactions where light
energy is converted to chemical energy. The earliest cryptochromes used this
energy to repair damaged DNA. However, more modern ones have evolved in both animals
and plants where they measure light to reset their biological clocks. In some animals,
they also sense the direction of the Earth's magnetic field. Unfortunately,
cryptochromes are very badly affected by weak oscillating electromagnetic fields
that are orders of magnitude weaker than the Earth's steady magnetic
field. This can disrupt both solar and
magnetic navigation, which can account for colony collapse disorder in bees,
the loss of some migratory birds and butterflies and a weakening of the immune
system in many more organisms.

How
cryptochrome measures light

The
energy of light is used to transfer an electron from one part of the cryptochrome
molecule to another to form a pair of what chemists call free radicals. The electron finds its way back of its own accord to
restore the status quo, but this
takes longer and results in an accumulation of cryptochrome in the free radical
form. It soon reaches equilibrium when the rate of free radical formation
equals its rate of destruction, at which point the proportion in the free
radical form is a measure of the current brightness of the light.

How
cryptochrome senses magnetic fields

This
depends on the fact that free radicals are affected by magnetic fields. Steady
magnetic fields delay the return of the displaced electron so that there is an
even greater accumulation of cryptochrome in the free radical form. This can be sensed by the cell in the same
way as it senses the effect of light. The direction of the field can be found
by having an array of cryptochrome molecules oriented in different directions,
as they would be in the compound eye of an insect or in the retina of a
vertebrate's eye. Most of the cryptochrome is found in the eyes, but it is
quite distinct from the regular visual pigments (rhodopsins) that are used in
normal vision. However, their combined effect gives the animal the potential to
"see" the direction of the magnetic field, possibly as an extra colour
superimposed on its field of vision.

Oscillating
magnetic fields severely disrupt cryptochrome function.

Ritz
and co-workers (Nature Vol. 429 13th May 2004 pp 177-180) showed
that, provided they were given light of the wavelengths absorbed by
cryptochrome , robins could orient themselves for navigation in the Earth's
magnetic field. However, this was severely disrupted by the application of
extremely weak alternating electromagnetic fields. A broad spectrum of frequencies between 0.1-10MHz
at field strengths as little as 0.085 microtesla (about 500 times weaker than
the Earth's field) made the birds completely unable to respond to the Earth's
field! The
quantum mechanics of the process suggest that these alternating fields are
likely to be perceived as a blinding "magnetic
light" that blots out the bird's "magnetic
vision".

Mobile
telecommunications generate similar fields.

Microwaves that are modulated to carry digital
information generate a similar broad spectrum of frequencies in this range. These frequencies occur in most mobile telecommunications,
including cell phones, DECT cordless phones and Wifi. These too may blot out "magnetic vision". In real life, even lower field strengths are
likely to disturb magnetic navigation, since radiation that is too weak to blot
out magnetic vision may still be
strong enough to distort the bird's perception of the Earth's field so that it
flies in the wrong direction.

Their sheer
numbers may also be a problem.

What may be even more important is the sheer
multiplicity of modern-day wireless devices; most western households have
several. They may suddenly burst into life and/or be mobile; so as to give the
birds continually conflicting navigational data. Many may find this disturbing.
It's like being constantly bombarded from all directions by the flashing lights
of a disco. We should not be too surprised to find that these birds may choose
to leave the area.

Bees may not like
the radiation either.

Like the birds, bees may also find electromagnetic
fields disturbing, and choose to leave the area. Scientists who put DECT
cordless phone base stations (cheap sources of modulated microwaves) next to
their beehives found that they made the bees behave abnormally and were less
likely to return to the hive (http://tinyurl.com/rans84
). Based on this observation, beekeepers would be well advised to switch off
their cell phones when visiting their hives. Even when not in use, cell phones
periodically emit bursts of radiation at full power so that the phone company
can keep track of where you are.

Cryptochrome
and solar navigation

Many
animals, including birds and bees, can also navigate by using the position of
the sun. But in order to do this, they must have an internal clock to
compensate for its changing position throughout the day. The mechanism of this
clock has been extensively studied in mutants of the fruit fly Drosophila. It uses cryptochrome to sense the light-dark
transitions at dawn and dusk to reset its clock and also to keep it running at the
correct speed. Unfortunately, the use of cryptochrome also makes the clock
sensitive to magnetic fields. Yoshii et
al. found that a 300 microtesla steady field could alter the speed of the
clock or even stop it altogether. (Yoshii et
al. http://tinyurl.com/cx7xaa) They
didn't test weak alternating fields, but given the findings of Ritz et al. and the fact the sensing of light
and magnetic fields by cryptochrome uses the same basic mechanism, it is likely
that these too would disrupt the clock's normal functions. The consequence of
this would be that electromagnetic fields of this sort would render the animal
unable to compensate accurately for the changing position of the sun. This
means that both solar and magnetic navigation would fail together and, if there
were no landmarks to guide it, the animal would be completely lost. This could
explain colony collapse disorder when bees do not return to the hive, why it is
so prevalent in the featureless almond plantations of the USA and why there are increasing
losses of animals that have the option to use both.

Circadian
rhythms are affected too

Circadian
rhythms are natural metabolic rhythms that occur in virtually all higher organisms.
They too are driven by the biological clock so that the organism can anticipate the coming of dawn and dusk
and modify its metabolism to be ready for the new conditions. Many metabolic
functions are controlled in this way. These include the rhythmic production of
melatonin (a sleep hormone) and the diversion of metabolic resources from
physical activity during the day, to repair and the immune system at night.

Consequences
of losing the circadian rhythm

If
the rhythm were to be lost or become weaker due to a failure of the clock as a
result of electromagnetic exposure, it would have serious consequences. In
humans it would result in tiredness during the day, poor sleep at night, and a
reduced nightly production of the sleep hormone melatonin. All of these effects
have been reported in people exposed to the radiation from cell towers and
other sources of continuous weak electromagnetic radiation such DECT phone base
stations and Wifi routers. Also, any weakening of the amplitude of these
rhythms means that at no time will any
process controlled by them ever function at maximum power. In particular, the immune system may never be
able to summon up the overwhelming power that is sometimes needed to overcome
pathogens or to destroy developing cancer cells before they get out of control.
This could in part explain the increased risk of cancer often found in
epidemiological studies of people living near mobile phone base stations. It
may also be an important factor in the continuing reduction in the health of
our bee population and its apparently reduced ability to resist pathogens.

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